Socceroo-ted
too old, too slow – too bad.
Did you watch the Australia vs Germany match Monday morning?
If you didn’t, good.
Don’t.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the game was embarrassing to say the least. More so for the players, and a very bad reflection on Verbeek. Because honestly, what was Verbeek doing? The alarm bells should have started ringing… no RINGING when within the first few minutes Oezul skinned the back line purely because of his speed. This might have been a different story back in 2006, but a lot can change in 4 years, and that includes getting much much older. Verbeek shoulda been on that like a fat kid and cake. He should have changed the defensive plan, and stopped playing such a high defensive line. That only works if you have a back-line fast enough. And that usually comes with youth! Moore and Chipperfield = 35; Neil = 32; and Wilkshire 29. That makes the average age of our back line 32. Blimey!
His tactics may have worked if Australia put one in the back of the net early in the game and held off for a one nil victory. He would have been hailed a tactical genius. But it didn’t work. In my opinion he shouldn’t have changed from the 4-2-3-1 formation used throughout the qualification round. This might have been contributed to the absence of Kennedy, Kewell, and Brus. I don’t know, but personally why not stick with things we are sure of rather than taking such a fatal risk.
Now, I’m not saying Australia are a shit team. They’ve progressed a lot since world cup before last 32 years ago, and we’re finally becoming a distinguished football team. But, considering the shocker loss by the Socceroos, Verbeek better stick to his guns (this is hoping that Kewell will step up), and show us why we deserve to be in the world cup.
And.. On a side note. What the hell was with that red card on Cahill? Bit over the top, even if official FIFA rules say that any tackle from behind that endangers the player is a straight card. Yellow atleast, but not the full deck. You could tell that he tried to pull out, firstly because the German player was up and ready quickly, and the video footage clarified so!
Good Luck Socceroos!
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